Show ’em your shorts

I love short stories. I admire the authors who produce these little jewel boxes, which contain a complete plot and well-developed characters and deliver a message about the way the author sees the world, too. They can be sparse or lush, philosophical or firmly entrenched in realism, but they all have one thing in common: not a single word is wasted in their tight construction.

The Internet, which is so wonderful in so many ways, seems to have given short fiction a bit of a boost—a revival, even. In this busy, stressed world, many people don’t have time to read longer works of fiction such as novels, and turn to the quick escape offered by shorter creations. (Take Smokelong Quarterly, at (http://smokelong.com/cover.asp) , for example, which offers fiction that can be read in about as long as it takes to smoke a cigarette.) There’s a vast array of short fiction to be found out there on the Web for quick pick-me-up reading—and it can still be found in the more traditional literary journals, magazines, and short story collections as well, of course. That’s good news for short story writers, because those publications all need content and are actively seeking it out.

In this article, I’ll set out some “Dos and Don’ts” on how to get your short stories noticed and published: tips gathered from the editors of various short fiction publications. I’ll also give you some ideas on where to look for markets for short fiction.

Do:

READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. That sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to skip something important. Read the guidelines, then read them again. Ignoring the submission guidelines seems to be the number one source of irritation for editors, and the best way to get your story tossed straight into the trash. For example: don’t send a science fiction story to a Webzine that publishes only literary fiction. Don’t send a story of 3,000 words to a market that asks for a maximum of 1,000 words.
Read other issues of the magazine/journal/Webzine to get a feel for the publication, and to make sure your stuff will fit.
Be patient. Don’t send your work as soon as you’ve finished it. Take some time with it. Leave it alone, come back to it, revise, leave it alone, revise, then submit.
Submit clean work. Get it edited, or proofread. A couple of typos aren’t the end of the world, but no editor appreciates an unedited, sloppy submission.
Show rather than tell. This is more of a tip regarding the craft of writing than anything, but it’s something that comes up again and again from editors.
Remember that you can tell an old story, as long as you tell it in a new, fresh, convincing way.
Bear in mind that strong, believable characters are important, even in science fiction. Also, give the characters a frame of reference, a “back story.” Yes, it’s hard to do this in the limited space provided by short fiction, but editors often complain that characters seem to have been born yesterday, simply to fulfill the purposes of the story.
Tie the end of the story to the beginning.

Don’t:

Use clichés. Before you submit your work, read it with a keen eye for wiping out clichés and replacing them with fresh language.
Argue with an editor who has rejected your work. It’s rude, and you’ll blow your chances of ever getting published by that market. Rejection sucks, but take a rejection to mean that your piece needs a little more polishing, or perhaps it just isn’t right for that particular publication. On a related note, you shouldn’t argue with an editor who has agreed to publish your work, just because they ask you to make one or two changes to tailor the piece to the publication.
Give up. Ever! Occasionally you’ll receive a rejection from an editor who tells you why he or she rejected the piece. This is incredibly helpful. Thank the editor for his or her comments, and then use them as you revise.

Market Ideas

The Creative Writers Opportunities List (CRWROPPS), an email list with markets, contests, etc. Subscribe here: http://lists.topica.com/lists/crwropps
Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market (available in retail and online bookstores or, often, in the reference section of your local library)
Writer’s Digest Top 30 Markets: http://www.writersdigest.com/hotmarkets_30_2003.asp
Writers’ Weekly Markets: http://www.writersweekly.com/markets_and_jobs.php
Loads of markets here, at For Writers: http://www.forwriters.com/markets.html. There’s quite a mix, though!
Lastly, there’s always Google, which provides 982,000 hits for a search on “short fiction markets!“

Good luck, and keep writing, revising and polishing those stories, and sending them out. They’ll find a home eventually!